A recent survey of local governments found that one-third of respondents have either imposed 20-mph speed limits or plan to do so. / Matthew Lloyd, Getty Images

by Traci Watson, Special for USA TODAY

by Traci Watson, Special for USA TODAY

LONDON â?? Let the French have their 80-mph motorways and the Germans their no-speed-limit Autobahns. The British apparently prefer life in the slow lane.

A growing number of British communities are slapping 20-mph speed limits on large sections of their roads because of safety concerns and the hope that it will encourage more people to bicycle and walk.

What's more, polls show that residents of places that adopt a 20-mph limit don't mind having to stick to a speed that, to an American, feels only slightly faster than travel by pogo stick.

"People have gradually been more and more sidelined by motorized traffic, and a bit of a backlash is happening," says Tom Platt of Living Streets, a non-profit group that campaigns for pedestrian-friendly public spaces. "People want to reclaim their streets."

A recent survey of local governments by the British newspaper The Independent found that one-third of respondents have either imposed 20-mph speed limits or plan to do so.

Rod King, founder of 20's Plenty For Us, a non-profit group that pushes for lower speed limits, says that is quite a change from a decade ago when there were few wide-area 20-mph limits.

"Some of the U.K.'s most iconic cities â?? Oxford, Cambridge, York, Bath, Bristol, Liverpool -- have decided 20 mph is the right speed limit for all their residential roads," King says.

But the new admonitions to slow down are being greeted with dismay by some motorists' groups, bus operators and taxi drivers. Slow speed limits should be applied to dangerous streets and roads outside schools, not to entire cities, says David Bizley of the RAC, a drivers' group similar to the AAA.

In areas without a compelling reason for a lower limit, "the inconvenience would be high but the benefit â?¦ would be relatively low," he says. "I hope and believe common sense will apply."

Bizley may be trying to catch a movement that has already tootled out of the gates.

The "go-slow revolution," as the British press has dubbed it, has now gotten a boost from an unlikely source: the avowedly car-friendly administration of Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain's Conservative Party.

In new speed-limit guidelines published last month, the central government said the local officials who oversee local speed limits should make consideration of more 20-mph zones one of their "priorities for action."

The guidelines also give the nod to 20-mph limits "over a larger number of roads," including big roads â?? a notable about-face from the previous guidelines, published in 2006, which said 20-mph limits should be used only on a small number of streets, and not at all on major routes.

"We want to see safe roads which meet the needs of everyone," road safety minister Stephen Hammond said last month.

Among the places that have asked drivers to slow to a putter:

-- The city of Portsmouth was the first community to impose 20-mph limits on large areas of its residential streets, putting the final limits in place in 2008. The 20-mph streets have lower levels of injuries and deaths from car accidents than the remaining 30-mph streets, says Nicola Waight of Portsmouth City Council.

-- In the city of Bristol, a pilot project testing 20-mph limits in a few neighborhoods was so successful that the entire city, except for a few thoroughfares, will also move from 30 mph to 20 mph starting this summer. Nearly 90% of those living in the pilot areas liked the new, slower limit, according to a study released last year.

-- The London district of Islington will place a 20-mph limit on all of its roads, except for a handful of routes controlled by another agency, by the end of March. Politicians want the change to "shift the culture in Islington toward lower speeds," Islington council member James Murray said last month.

Many motorists on the streets of Islington approve of the idea, even though it will force them to creep along at golf-cart speeds.

"In Italy, where I come from, there are so many accidents," says Simona Rampanti, an Internet designer. "I would love it if Italy would be more conservative like England. That would save a lot of lives."

"I'm a cyclist most of the time, and I'd be quite happy if traffic were going 20 mph," says Ali Walters, a copywriter.

Others, though, said 20 mph is not an appropriate speed for some of the area's big roads.

"If you're going from Euston to Holloway" â?? neighborhoods on opposite sides of Islington â?? "you need to do 30, you need to get there," says Johnny Dawes, a professional rock climber. "And people will do it anyway, so it might just be a way of making money for the council."